Cricket is a very interesting sport which comes up with different rules and it is what makes cricket more interesting. No one likes simple rules which do not have any thrill, also sports should be tough or you can say that the competition in the game should be tough then only the audience can enjoy the game.
The power play is a fielding rule in a cricket match that is activated usually at the starting of the match in order to stop the batsmen from scoring more on the pitch. The power play is a fielding strategy that is decided by the fielding team itself to get the wicket of the present batsman; this will be helpful for the fielding team. This is because usually, the batting team sends their best batsman in the first over itself.
Power play lasts for only one over after that the position of the fielder gets changed.
Here are few more information regarding Power play
Rules of the Power Play
- Many people get confused about the rule of the Power play, but the truth is that for ODI and for T20 the rules of the power play keep changing. Not only this over the years the rule of the power play has changed many times.
- Power play overs can be given two times in the over of 50, the first power play is given in the starting overs and the second one is given in the last overs meaning from 41-50. However, it can change this is not a constant rule.
- For power play, the rule on the ground is quite numerical, depending on the number of players that can remain in the yards. The power play is all about how many players can stay in the following yard.
- Talking about the rules of the power play in T20 then it is quite easy to understand. In T20 there are 20 overs so power play is also divided in the same pattern.
- For over 1 to 6: 2 fielders remain outside the 30 yards
- For over 6 to 20: 5 fielders remain outside the 30 yards.
Why is Power play required?
This is very interesting to know what is the use of power play in cricket, power play is given in the overs of the match. They are divided into two parts, usually 10 overs in the start and in the end, are of power-play which is 50 overs.
The power play is also known as fielding restrictions, in the period of the power play the fielding is kept very strict and batsmen are kept under pressure. The fielding is done in a manner that they are not allowed to score more during this over. It is proved also that during this over many cricketers have lost their wicket, including the legendary cricketers also. So for batsmen, it becomes quite stressful to play in power-play because during this over it is very rare for them to give a good shot.